Emory Healthcare announced Wednesday afternoon that it will close the two-bed Emory Smyrna Hospital, which is not a full-service facility.
Emory in a statement called the decision “difficult.” It also pointed out Emory Smyrna currently has no emergency room and operates only two in-patient hospital beds there, which are infrequently used.
There are 20 employees working at the hospital and they have the option of moving to other Emory Healthcare locations. according to Emory.
The facility originally housed an 88-bed hospital called Emory Adventist. But Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare and Florida-based Adventist Health System closed that hospital in 2014 because it was losing money.
In its announcement of the closure Wednesday afternoon, Emory stated, “Despite plans for renovation, the hospital was never able to get back to full operations as it had been prior to 2014 due to challenges related to the Certificate of Need process and the onset and repercussions of the COVID pandemic.” A Certificate of Need is required for the expansion of a hospital.
Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton said Wednesday there are other clinics available, even if the town itself has no emergency room.
Both Wellstar and Northside hospital systems have opened facilities nearby, while Piedmont and Emory both have urgent care clinics there, too, Norton said. Despite the closure, he said Smyrna “is a good place to get sick with all of the healthcare facilities in our city.”
The hospital sits inside the city limits of Smyrna, which has a population of about 56,000.
Just over 44% of Smyrna’s population is Black or Latino, and those groups are more likely than average to lack health insurance in Georgia. Federal law requires emergency rooms to provide people without health insurance stabilizing care, but a clinic is not obligated to provide the same care to uninsured people.
It’s unclear what could happen with the hospital’s location. “We are currently exploring our options for the Smyrna hospital campus, but have not made any decisions about future plans at this time. Emory Healthcare is committed to retaining a presence in the Smyrna community,” Emory officials stated.
Emory said a medical office building located on the same grounds as the Smyrna hospital will remain open, with no immediate impacts. The medical office building contains six practices, including an Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center clinic and a pharmacy.
Patients who want to retrieve their medical records from Emory Smyrna can call 844-335-6968. “We want to be sure patients have continued access to care and services,” Emory said.
